The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-06-23
INTELLIGENT PIGS.
Well Authenticated Cases OF Great Ssgac'
ity Displayed by Bright Porkers.

INTELLIGENT PIGS.
| Well Authenticated Cases of Great sagac-
Ity Displayed by Bright Porkers.
Next to the donkey, there is no four
footed creature that has been so ma
ligned as piggy. Time and again he
has shown himself to be a very clever
and even sagacious beast. 1t is cruelty
libelous to regard the pig as stupid,
brutal, gluttonous and uncleanly quad
ruped, groveling and repulsive in all
its habits and intractable and obstinate
in temper. He may often seem to be
endowed with these disgraceful attri-
butes, because, as rule, there is moth
ing in the life of pig in his domesti-
Gated state to call for any exercise of
his reasoning faculties. His sole bust
ness is to eat, drink, sleep and get fat;
all his wants are anticipated and his
mental horizon is bounded by the fence
which guards his sty. When, however,
it Is the interest or the whim of his pos
SCISSOR to teach the pig or to fondle him,
| he can be, without much difficulty, con-
verted into a docile pupil and a highly
pleasing pet. The original learned pig
which was exhibited in Pail Mall nearly
hundred years ago had been taught
to pick up letters written upon pieces of
of cardboard at command and arrange
them into words. This intelligent crea-
ture died in due course of nature.
| as all mortal swine must dc; but
since 1889 there has never been a sOlu-
ton of continuity in the race Of
learned pigs exhibited at country
fairs, although none have shown
equal talent with the sage of Pail
Mall. There is the well-known
case. too. of the gentleman re-
siding at Caversham, who, at Read
ing market bought two pigs, which
were conveyed to his house in sack
and turned into a yard on the bank of
the Thames. Tie next morning the ami
mails were missing. A hue and cry was
raised and information was brought
that two pigs had been seen swimming
across the river at nearly its broadest
part They were afterward observed
trotting along the Pangbourne road and
| in one place where the road bifurcates
they were seen putting their noses to-
| gether as if in earnest consultation.
Eventually they returned safely to the
farmhouse whence they had been orig
inally conveyed to Reading. The farmer
sent them back to the gentleman at
Caversham, but again the animals con-
trived to make their escape, swimming
the river as though they had been two
dogs and thereby refuting the proverb-
ial but slanderous imputation that pigs
can not swim without cutting their
throats. 1t is well known that at pro-
vincial regattas pigs have frequently
taken prizes for feats in notation. The
ingenious DR.. Erasmus Darwin, in his
''Zoonomia,' has. perhaps, most sue
cinctly, yet most comprehensively,
summed up the case for and against
the pig. Il have Observed" he writes,
'great sagacity in swine, but the short
lives which we allow them and their
usual confinement prevent their inn
provement, which would otherwise
probably equal that of the dog"
There it is. The infelicitous piggy
carries even in his babyhood, as it were,
the word of doom. ''thanatos" branded
on his snout. In his sucking stage
gourmands hunger for his flabby flesh
and yearn to see his yet tender pachy-
dermatous envelop scorched into crisp
cracking. His brain power has no time
for development; since his cerebral
organism is ruthlessly utilized as brain
sauce, or if he be allowed somewhat
longer span of life, he is dairy-fed only
to be slaughtered and roasted with the
accompaniments of sage and onions and
apple sauce.
Pigs have been repeatedly known to
attach themselves to individuals or to
other animals and to show the greatest
docility. gcntleness and affection. Mr..
Henderson, the writer of well-known
work on swine, relates that he had
Young SOW of good breed so docile
that She would suffer his youngest son,
three years of age, to climb upon her
back and ride her about for half an
hour at a time and more. When she
was tired of the sport she would lay
herself down, carefully avoiding hurt
ing her young jockey. who habitually
shared his bread and meat with her.
DeDieskau also cites the case of wild
boar which he caught very young and
which formed such an attachment to a
young lady residing in the house that
he accompanied her wherever she went
and slept upon her bed. This affection
ate creature fretted himself to death on
account of fox which had been taben
into the house to be tamed.-L0ndon
Telegraph.
Superstiticus Cinnamon.
Cainese laborers will not work in the